Do Crossbows "ruin" archery seasons?

Use both. Crossbow little simpler to hold, but only a little (and a lot more onerous to draw). Crossbow also has less range. Either way have to get close enough. So do not see it ruin bow hunting in anyway.

Next topic - road hunting, tree stand, game cam...
 
When I was a youngster I had a little Ben Pearson 20lb long bow. As I got older and able to draw more weight I had a 36lb recurve bow. In my teenage years I bought a pretty crude 100 lb draw weight crossbow, thats all there was at the time anyways. By the time I was in my 20's compound bows had become very popular so I bought one of them. Though I never truly hunted with any of them I did shoot the odd small game animal. A few cottontails, a pheasant(airborne at that, what a fluke....lol) and a Canada Goose standing still. I no longer own any of them but all were fun to shoot. I personally don't have any issue with a crossbow. To my way of thinking whichever of the choices available you can handle best to make a good efficient kill with should be the choice of bow to use.
 
I went from rifle-to-shotgun-to-muzzle loader-to-crossbow-to-compound... but now I have had to go back to crossbow well I wait for shoulder surgery (I tried to draw it... not happening). Do I find a challenge in a compound bow/traditional bow... heck ya. I can load a crossbow and spot/stalk within range put cross hair onto target and release, with a bow you have to do the same stalk but then try and draw it without spooking the game... unless your like call of duty and run around in full draw all the time....

I like because of my injury the ability to have the option, if the surgery takes will continue on with compound then traditional... heck ya!!! Until that time though I am glad I can still have the full bow season to spot-stalk- and hopefully not spook the game! If it was limited like rifle season to say 2 weeks I would have to switch back to hunting over bait in a stand vs the challenge of spot/stalk I personally don't want to do this, not the kind of hunting I like (though can still be a challenge, and YES I do do this from time to time for pure meat in freezer)
 
9.3mauser said:
You still have to get within 40 yards or so. The only real difference is the amount of practice it takes to reach an acceptable skill level.
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This is my situation, I have a young family and a full time job, I dont have very much time to practice. I would rather make a clean kill than wound a deer with a compound bow.

I plan to get a recurve bow some day, but not until I have the time and ambition for the proficiency required.

I have been bow hunting for 5 years now there is still lots of skill required to get a deer close, and it is in getting a deer that close that is most exciting to me.
 
one pope Innocent II (i really like the name) banned them a while ago. that is just one reason we should use them.

on another note who cares about what tool is used to get into hunting if it is legal of course. i ve heard about recurve hunters that do not like compound ..... who cares
 
We're still lobbying our provincial government down here in Newfoundland to legalize crossbows for big/small game hunting. I fully support their use. As far as I'm concerned they're a simple tool that allows humans to become more effective hunters, just as the spear, atlatal, traditional bow, recurve, compound bow, musket, muzzle loading rifle and modern metallic cartridge arms have done. Unfortunately, I don't shoot my compound bow anymore. I hit the Big 40 a couple of years ago and my misspent youth has caught up with me in the form of bursitis and the beginnings of arthritis in my shoulder. We've been lobbying so long to legalize crossbows that my reason for supporting them now includes equal access for hunters having medical issues or disabilities. :)Hunters, like gun rights advocates, already have enough enemies. We don't need to be attacking one another or essentially aiding the opposition by adopting elitist attitudes. Just as there is no "good" guns or "bad" guns, there are no "good" or "bad" bows - regardless whether or not they're strung vertically or horizontally.
 
X-man good luck on that battle, we have been told here in Yukon: crossbow are for poachers .... hope we will be able to change the mind of people it will take a while for sure.
 
PSE said:
I am a compound bow hunter and I have a bow with all the advantages (trigger release, fiber optic sights, whisker biscuit etc). Over the course of the summer I have attained reasonably good proficiency with it that I would take a 30 yd broadside shot in the tree stand with a high degree of confidence of making a kill shot. A few weeks ago I went out practicing with the neighbor who hunts with a higher end Matrix X bow with optics. We used my 3D foam deer and practiced from our tree stand at different yardages, 30 yd being the maximum we both felt comfortable hunting with.

Although I am a reasonably good shot with my compound, I shot much better at all ranges with his X bow and it was only the second time I'd ever fired it. For me his X bow hits harder (arrow penetrates further) and was more consistently accurate than my compound (63 lb draw weight). That being said his max range would be the same as mine. Also, it is definitely louder on the release and slower to reload.

What am I trying to say here is that while my neighbor gains on one end - accuracy and penetration he loses on sound signature and reload speed.

While I have no desire to rush out and buy a X bow since I shoot 3D competitively with mine, I can see that if Joe Average Hunter is thinking of taking up hunting with a bow and has limited time to practice which seems to be the bulk of the hunting population than he will get proficient a lot quicker with the X bow than with the Compound. Shooting it builds confidence quickly.

If this translates into more people taking up hunting, than how can this be a bad thing. To me it fills that niche between a bow and a rifle (without the legalities of the rifle). This same hunter is also probably less lightly to wound animals in the process.

It takes a lot of practice to get good with a Compound - not so much with a X bow.
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This post is spot on.
 
delta1 said:
As far as I am concerned the modern crossbow is nothing but a short range stick throwing rifle. It has a rifle stock and most are scoped.Should not be allowed in bow season.
Just my 02 cents. Ready for flaming now
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So early in the month yet I believe we have a winner in the dumbest post of the month contest!

So if you have an injury that makes pulling a bow difficult or impossible you should be excluded from using a crossbow? Archery is archery...Horizontal, vertical, cams or not. You still have to get the animal within 40-50 yards and make a good shot. Saying that Crossbows are too easy is like saying that scopes are cheating. Or scopes with more power. Or rifles with too flat a trajectory. It's just plain stupid and elitist. If it's legal and you can defend it with your ethics then do it. What's right for one person may not be right for you but you have no place telling people what is right for them.
 
BigUglyMan said:
So early in the month yet I believe we have a winner in the dumbest post of the month contest!

So if you have an injury that makes pulling a bow difficult or impossible you should be excluded from using a crossbow? Archery is archery...Horizontal, vertical, cams or not. You still have to get the animal within 40-50 yards and make a good shot. Saying that Crossbows are too easy is like saying that scopes are cheating. Or scopes with more power. Or rifles with too flat a trajectory. It's just plain stupid and elitist. If it's legal and you can defend it with your ethics then do it. What's right for one person may not be right for you but you have no place telling people what is right for them.
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Lucky for me there's lots of slingshot ammo in my driveway. Haha
 
I always wonder why the anti Xbow people are so scared of someone else using one. It's like they think it will ruin their chances of killing a deer.

Which makes me think my previous post on this thread is bang on.
 
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